Opening for marijuana addicts in the US Army

RAZONES DE CUBA [clearH=10]

Opening for marijuana addicts in the US Army

6 December 2017 |26 CommentsBy Francisco Arias Fernández

Translated and edited for CubaNews by Walter Lippmann.

“Did you smoke marijuana and want to go to war?The Army allows it .“ That is the call or promotional announcement that the Latino press recently began to reproduce in the US, as part of a broader recruitment effort for the military.

This was the title of a recent report by the Miami newspaper El Nuevo Herald, where it is announced that, given the order to increase the number of US military personnel. and the increase in the number of North American states that have legalized or decriminalized the use of the herb, the Army will grant exemptions to those who have consumed that substance and want to enlist in military adventures of the superpower.

According to the rep[ort, the number of exemptions granted by the army to marijuana smokers amounted to half a thousand this year compared to 191 in 2016. He adds that this type of flexibility was not granted for three years and it’s justified by the need to fulfill the order to increase the forces that the White House has given. The army added that almost 69 thousand recruits this year, some 6,000 more than in 2016.

The only requirement is that addicts have to commit not to use the drug while serving in the armed forces. “As long as they understand they can not do it while doing military service, I’ll give them all the exemptions they want,” said Maj. Gen. Jeff Snow, head of the army’s recruiting command.

He added that exemption figures will increase as the states where the drug is allowed increases. Currently, in eight, the possession of marijuana is legalized and in 13 other states, it has been decriminalized, which means that the possession of a small amount is the equivalent of a traffic infraction or another minor crime that is not punishable by jail. Another 29 together with the national capital and the territories of Puerto Rico and Guam allow consumption for therapeutic purposes.

According to the report, recently Congress and other areas have expressed concern about the drop in the quality of new recruits. Army data reveal that more than 8,000 recruits received exemptions in 2017, compared to 6700 last year, mostly for reasons of physical or mental health.

In this sense, it stands out that the exemptions for marijuana use represent 25% of the total of those granted for misconduct in the fiscal year that ended on September 30. They also represent 50% of the general increase in exemptions granted to those who needed it for some type of misconduct.

In addition to the poor quality of recruitment, it is suspicious that armed forces that have been accused in the past of having a “hallucinogenic arsenal” that they have used in recent wars to manipulate their own forces, the civilian population, and its adversaries, so it is betting on the massive use of addicts for future war adventures.

According to the book “Drugs in war”, by Polish author Lukasz Kamienski, the Vietnam war was “the first real pharmacological war” with consumption among US military personnel that reached levels never previously seen. The study points out that in 1973, the year of US withdrawalfrom the Asian country, 70% of the soldiers took some drug, be it marijuana, dexedrine, heroin, morphine, opium, sedatives or hallucinogens.

He points out that no less outlandish have been later US projects. like the one to bombard enemy forces with pheromones to sexually uncontrol the soldiers or the one to use viagra with the members of their own special forces to make them more aggressive. Pheromones are chemical substances that cause specific behaviors in other individuals.

The Polish scholar describes as hypocritical that there are “very restrictive anti-drug policies … and in other cases official policies of distribution of these substances to soldiers in war”.

The call for marijuana addicts to enter the US Army triggers alarms when military budgets increase to exorbitant levels, when Washington establishes a foreign policy of threats of extermination against its enemies, of sanctions against adversaries and superpowers, of revenge and reprisals, and the executive’s capacity for strategic leadership is questioned.

The United States wants its drugged soldiers, alienated so that they increase the atrocious crimes, the genocide, the cruel wars against any country in the world. It is a malevolent, dehumanized strategy.

6 December 2017 |07:34 a.m.

Pedro Jose said:

While Cuba promotes a policy of zero tolerance for drugs at the level of the whole society, here we have a United States that so much cackles in the fight against drugs and human rights, institutionalizing drugs and addicts, nothing less than in the armed institutions, with the impact and harmful transcendence that this could have.

6 December 2017 |07:41 a.m.

lidia mary mederos said:

For a long time the US Army can only do and commit their excesses and abuses on a planetary scale, when their troops are drugged … remember South Vietnam! The demoralization and the loss of the most elemental human essences are attributes of the most corrupt and mercenary army of the planet: .Abu Garib Do you say something? And then they pretend to be the best defenders of DD.HH. Even with those who are part of their ranks, once the period is over, they are discarded as if they were garbage. Where are renowned marines of the elite troops heroes of the war of Afghanistan and Iraq, champions of freedom in any part of the world’s end ?: Without economic, psychological attention, to assume the lasyres of their consciences, disturbed, alienated, traumatized In short, very few are socially integrated. It hurts because so many young people get lost

6 December 2017 |08:39 a.m.

Marcos Mirabal said:

No question, the United States is subtly introducing drugs and drug addicts as a weapon of war. Nothing strange about that country, its intelligence labs and media. For the empire to increase its power, respect for Human Rights does not matter, in fact, will there really be human rights in the United States?

6 December 2017 |09:25 a.m.

@ llenobrac95 said:

There is for god, the government that most boasts in the world to fight against drug trafficking and ahota come with this … What will be the result of this new Trumpnada? more than clear: more deaths all over the world, more violation of human rights, more disasters worldwide and of course a new “feat” for the US government …

6 December 2017 |09:39 am

Mano said:

If we understand that they are addicts, how does the army of the United States expect to refrain from consumption during the time of service, or do they include psychological treatment in that period to counteract the addiction? It is clearly a blunder that is justified only by the desire for power and global domination, combined with the paranoia of seeing attacks in all parts of the world.

6 December 2017 |09:55 a.m.

Yuri said:

Something to me does not remain clear to me, if several countries have legalized the consumption of marijuana cigarettes, it will not be because it is not harmful enough like other drugs. It will not be that the marijuana will classify in the same link of other authorized drugs as the cigarette or the alcohol.

6 December 2017 |10:36 am

Rafael Palmero said:

With this measure it seems to me that humanity is reviving what the worthy Romans felt about Neron’s follies, is putting people with vices that enagenan their act on weapons is the greatest responsibility of a president.

6 December 2017 |10:44 am

Sergio Martín said:

Reading about this topic, I found an article from Clarín newspaper, from the month of May of 2016, I quote some paragraphs that illustrate the negative effects of the legalization of marijuana in the State of Colorado:

“While it was expected that this activity, now legal, bring tax benefits to the state, in 2014 and the collection of the tax on marijuana fell 42%, since most are traded on the black market.

The crime in general rises month by month and especially, that of disorder in the public road, grew 45%.

6 December 2017 |10:49 am

Fernan said:

Responding to Yuri’s comment: I am not an expert in drug issues, not much less, but by common sense googlee “marijuana effects”, I invite you to do so that you understand the reactions well fucked this boil, and how the politicians and policies of some countries are well wrong, even influenced by drug cartels

6 December 2017 |11:02 AM

Daniel Guerra said:

Surprising the reason every time we approach that way of life and that imperial thought, that worldview capable of allowing all possible barbarities to commit their own in pursuit of achieving their hegemonic and domination objectives, at whatever cost, including psychosocial and degrading of the human race. Something is very clear in this recruitment hurdle, what matters least is the species, the same that will go to the conquest so that the loot is finally in a few that concentrate for themselves most of the riches that natural equity has ready for the humans of this planet.

6 December 2017 |11:51 am

Daniel said:

what matters least is the human species

6 December 2017 |12:05 pm

Javico said:

I am in agreement with what Yuri said above, that badly has the marijuana cigarette, it is not the same as the usual cigarette. There is a lot of information, scattered and confused, but who is right is good or not

6 December 2017 |12:29 pm

@ danielp75951 said:

Unusual can only be found in the US, there is MRS.CHAIN.! #Cuba Vs #Drogas

6 December 2017 |12:38 pm

Francisco said:

I must inform Yuri that a recent comparative analysis of marijuana regulation experiences in North American states and other countries, shows that as a consequence of legalization and decriminalization, the growing trend of consumption has continued, the number of adult consumers has increased, the perception of risk that triggered the diversification of supply and consumption decreased and there has been a significant increase in cases of hospital admissions related to presumed cannabis intoxications in the North American states studied. keep going…

6 December 2017 |12:58 pm

Francisco said:

The increase in consumption especially affects occasional and habitual cannabis users 18 years of age and older. The evolution is especially pronounced among people older than 25 years, whose levels of consumption have increased rapidly.

Cases attended in hospital emergencies have accelerated, especially among tourists and, to a lesser extent, among the youngest (under 10 years old) and the oldest (surprised by new forms of cannabis, sometimes with very powerful doses). ). continue

6 December 2017 |12:59 pm

Francisco said:

The new approaches increase the tragedy and the profits of the traffickers, they do not alleviate the evil. I reaffirm what the experts say: “marijuana is not an alternative, it is a proven evil”.

The fact that certain strategies have failed in the world fight against this drug, which is the most trafficked and consumed in the world, does not mean that to stop confronting it or legalizing it is the option. Its harmful effects for the physical and mental health of the individual, and for society are scientifically proven.

In addition, therapeutic use must invariably be governed by the intervention of specialist doctors. Improvising can be fatal.

6 December 2017 |01:00 pm

Marcel Benitez said:

I understand that marijuana can be harmful, but then why have so many governments decided to open doors and legalize it in their countries, what is behind it specifically. By legalizing it, they are transferring a message to the international community that it is less bad, that it is not so harmful. They are launching a message of openness and flexibility. Do you have the drug cartels to do with these government decisions?

6 December 2017 |02:18 pm

Yadira said:

I read the comments of Francisco and I infer that it is the author and if so, I would like to delve into what the medicinal utility of marijuana is really and in what branches of medicine it is used.

6 December 2017 |02:20 pm

Danilo Gonzálz said:

The United States government with this decision has been turning into a narco state, with a narco army

6 December 2017 |02:21 pm

Amelia Samper said:

For some comments read and others that I hear on the street, including young people, I think it is still necessary to create more culture among our population on drugs, look for ways to explain and clear so many international media stereotypes that have been tried to impose in this field. Cuba, although surrounded by water, is not exempt from flagella of this type.

6 December 2017 |02:25 pm

Dimitiri said:

How harmful can it really be for a soldier, with a gun in his hand, to smoke marijuana cigarettes? Is it proven that it can make it more violent?

6 December 2017 |02:26 pm

Hugo Huguet said:

An army of drug addicts. What they do is legalize a problem they have always had, the high consumption of drugs in the armed forces.

6 December 2017 |02:28 pm

Ernesto Chávez said:

Very clever the Chiefs in charge of that army, of course they have to have them set so that they do not see the savage crimes that many of them commit against their will, that is why there are so many that when they return to normal, that is to say when they comply with Their mission begins to remember the cruelty of the acts and they even have to be treated with psychiatrists or psychologists. In Cuba, of course, we are against anyone taking drugs, as this affects the normal development of social and family relationships. CubavsBlock

6 December 2017 |03:30 pm

Francisco said:

Yadira: I have read about it and I have interviewed experts. Currently its usefulness is being reviewed, and there are arguments both for and against its medicinal use. Among the detractors are the American Medical Association itself, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, which has presented arguments against its use for medical purposes. It is proposed that medicinal cannabis has been used to reduce the inappetence, nausea and vomiting produced by chemotherapy, as well as to treat pain and muscle spasticity in people with HIV / AIDS; its use for other medical applications has been studied, but there is still insufficient information to give conclusions about the safety and efficacy of its use.

6 December 2017 |03:47 pm

Ana Pomelo Cuesta said:

A LOCO president, an armies of DRUGS, laws that violate all the rules … and in this way they want us to buy their model of government, state and society? Not that we were crazy

Meta

Fair use notice of copyrighted material:

This site contains some copyrighted material that in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance the understanding of politics, human rights, the economy, democracy, and social justice issues related to Cuba. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.